Latest news with #Wayfinders
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Local fair provides mental health resources and support to youth
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – In Springfield, a free mental health and wellness fair is supporting local youth. Wayfinders hosted the event, 'Springfield Rise and Thrive' for the first time. It's a resident and youth-led effort to raise mental health awareness and break the stigma in asking for help. Springfield middle and high school students got to immerse themeselves in a supportive peer community at Samuel Bolden Park. It featured poetry, drum and dance performances, inspirational speakers, and mental health resources. 'We want our young people to know there are other ways and other spaces and you're struggling with anything,' said Community Building and Engagement Director at WayFinders, Beatrice Dewberry. Youth Subcommittee member, Ryan Rodriguez adds, 'it's a nice thing to see the community come together, especially, you know, for the youth and just to show people that there's different outlets, you know, some people, they just need to talk to other people or you know or you need to connect with somebody.' Youth also took part in a Mental Health Pledge 'to be kind to their minds'which was the theme of the event. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Local fair provides mental health resources and support to youth
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – In Springfield, a free mental health and wellness fair is supporting local youth. Wayfinders hosted the event, 'Springfield Rise and Thrive' for the first time. It's a resident and youth-led effort to raise mental health awareness and break the stigma in asking for help. Springfield middle and high school students got to immerse themeselves in a supportive peer community at Samuel Bolden Park. It featured poetry, drum and dance performances, inspirational speakers, and mental health resources. 'We want our young people to know there are other ways and other spaces and you're struggling with anything,' said Community Building and Engagement Director at WayFinders, Beatrice Dewberry. Youth Subcommittee member, Ryan Rodriguez adds, 'it's a nice thing to see the community come together, especially, you know, for the youth and just to show people that there's different outlets, you know, some people, they just need to talk to other people or you know or you need to connect with somebody.' Youth also took part in a Mental Health Pledge 'to be kind to their minds'which was the theme of the event. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Forbes
30-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Law Firm Leaders: Managing Competing Priorities
Sarah-Nell Walsh, JD is an Executive Coach for High Achieving Lawyers, Leaders, + Entrepreneurs and Founder of Wayfinders, LLC. Leading a law firm isn't like leading in other industries. In a law firm, you're managing people and running a business while also being responsible for bringing in new clients and delivering high-caliber legal work. The result is that the demands on your time feel relentless. No matter how efficient you are, something always needs more attention. I get it. Before becoming an executive coach, I was a litigation partner in an AmLaw 100 law firm. I know what it feels like to manage the tension between my responsibilities as a leader, business generator, lawyer, thought leader and customer service agent. Now, after coaching hundreds of high-achieving law firm leaders, including those who've made the transition from law to the C-suite, I've seen how competing demands can stretch even the most capable professionals thin, and I have strategies for avoiding it. As a leader, you're responsible for creating a cohesive culture, developing a strong team and keeping morale high. At the same time, you must bring in new business because, regardless of how profitable your firm is, it won't survive without a steady stream of clients. Other industries might separate these functions into different roles. But in law firms, leaders are expected to do it all. It's no wonder that so many firm leaders feel like they're constantly failing at something. If you focus too much on leadership, your billable hours and business development may suffer. The same is true if you put all your energy into client work; your firm's culture and growth may stagnate. Prioritize new business, and your clients may feel neglected and your team unappreciated. So, what to do? Here's what I recommend. Leaders can't fill every role. It's just not possible, given the stringent demands of law firm leadership. Some will excel at building relationships and attracting clients, while others will excel at mentoring their team or tackling legal work when complex legal questions arise. If you're stretched too thin managing cases, hire senior attorneys who can take the lead. Delegation means shifting tasks as well as focusing your energy where it will be felt. Many law firm leaders put a premium on what's urgent rather than what's most important. They are not always the same thing. The best way to avoid this trap is to structure your time intentionally. Simple ways to do this are by blocking off hours for deep work, dedicating specific times for business development and protecting space for leadership tasks like mentoring and strategy. Law is a jealous mistress, and the practice of law will take all of your time if you don't dedicate space for business development and intentional leadership. My most successful clients set performance metrics and hold themselves accountable to meeting them. For business development, they might set a goal to reach out to two current and three prospective clients per week, have two client meetings a month and visit one client a quarter. For leadership, they might decide to reach out to three partners in their office or practice group a week, set aside two hours to review and follow up on billable hours and profitability once a month, and visit another firm's office once a quarter. For client service, they might create a matter list, ensure every matter is updated every week and reach out to clients monthly to discuss case updates and strategy. If you don't control your schedule, it will control you. No law firm leader can do it alone. A strong leadership team, whether it's practice group leaders, senior attorneys or firm administrators, can help distribute and lighten the load. Invest in developing these leaders so they can take on more responsibility, freeing you up to focus on high-level priorities. Leadership doesn't mean doing everything yourself; it means building a team capable of carrying the firm forward with you at the helm. Excellent client service and responsiveness are table stakes. Your team must deliver both to keep a client happy, but that doesn't mean it needs to always be you. There are many attorneys who can deliver excellent client service. Law firm leadership and strategy are skills that can be developed, but they require a lot of time and dedication. Being able to develop business is the rarest and most sought-after talent in a law firm, much more valued than the ability to practice law and, therefore, impossible to delegate or outsource. Many law firm leaders measure success by their billable hours, the number of clients they bring in or the amount of work they handle personally. However, success at this level shouldn't be defined by doing more but by leading in a way that allows the firm to thrive beyond one person's efforts, beginning with yours. The most effective leaders redefine success to include the growth of their team, the firm's reputation and the sustainability of their role. If you are doing everything yourself, you're not leading; you're just working harder. You will never be able to give equal attention to leadership, business development and client work at all times. Some periods will require more focus on one area over another, and that's okay. The goal shouldn't be perfection. The goal should be for you to, at all junctures, be making intentional decisions about where your time and energy go rather than letting circumstances dictate that for you. Leading a law firm is one of the most demanding leadership roles out there. It requires constant recalibration, tough decisions and a willingness to let go of the idea that you can do it all. But with the right strategies—and a commitment to focusing on what will move the firm into the future—you can lead with purpose. Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Springfield residents voice concerns, push for change at community dinner
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Springfield residents voiced their concerns Thursday night advocating for change in their neighborhoods. Local nonprofit Wayfinders 'Voices of the People,' held a community dinner Thursday night. At the event, people had the opportunity to share what changes they'd like to see, such as more affordable housing, better infrastructure, or student outreach programs. 'Don't be afraid to go to a meeting to be afraid to have your kids involved them seeing you step up or advocate for change will help them become the next policy makers,' says Resident Advocate Renee Dingman. If would like to get involved, 'Voices of the People holds meetings on the first Thursday of every month over Zoom. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
18-02-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Hospitality at the end of life: Owners open their homes to terminally ill
Related : Advertisement A similar housing infrastructure for those wanting to die on their schedule is developing in Oregon, which lifted its assisted-dying law's residency requirement in July 2023, two months after Vermont. Of the 10 states and the District of Columbia that allow medically assisted dying, they are the only jurisdictions to have done so. Accommodations typically include extra rooms in private residences, and apartments or second homes that people have traditionally listed independently or through Airbnb or Vrbo. Few are like Suzanne's, specially designed for patients and the loved ones by their side when they die. What the properties have in common is that their owners support the death-with-dignity movement, which in 1997 led Oregon to become the first state to legalize medically assisted dying. Oregon's law, which became a template for other jurisdictions, included residency requirements in response to concerns the state would become a death destination, with bodies washing up on its beaches, recalled Peg Sandeen, CEO of the advocacy group Death With Dignity. That hasn't happened, and lawmakers in some states, including New York, are introducing assisted-dying bills without residency requirements. Montana, where a 2009 court ruling made the procedure legal, doesn't have clear-cut residency rules, but people tend not to go there as they do to Vermont and Oregon, according to the advocacy group Compassion and Choices. Advertisement When Vermont lifted its residency requirement, property owners wanting to open their homes to patients seeking medically assisted dying began contacting Patient Choices Vermont, the nonprofit that helped enact the assisted-dying law, known as Act 39. PCV has transitioned into a resource for end-of-life organizations in other states seeking clarity about the law, and everyone from physicians to patients navigating it in the state. The retreat overlooks a mountain range, seen in January. Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist/For The Washington Post PCV's Wayfinders Network, an independent group of hospice nurses, case managers and death doulas, reaches out to doctors, hospices and social workers 'letting folks know we exist, and that people can get support,' said Kasey March, a network member and death doula whose services include companionship, comfort, education and guidance to people at end of life. Terminally ill patients ending their lives prefer the comfort and privacy of a home over a hotel, said March, who keeps a list of four or five accommodations and is always looking for more. She learns about them from friends, acquaintances and fellow Wayfinders. 'You want somewhere that no one is going to knock on your door and ask what's going on and make you feel uncomfortable in some way, shape or form,' she said. Price, availability and location vary. Most people seeking medical aid in dying have mobility challenges and seek accessible accommodations close to urban centers, PCV President Betsy Walkerman said. Cindy, a consultant who lives on the top floor of a two-story duplex in Burlington, Vermont, and whose full name is not being used for privacy reasons, discounts her short-term rental rate for those using the ground floor for Act 39. 'I would not want money to be an issue, so I just make it work,' she said. Advertisement Suzanne works on an offering system — if someone makes a donation, she puts the money back into the property, building the infrastructure for future patients. According to the Vermont Department of Health, as of June, at least 26 people had traveled to the state to die, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the reported assisted deaths there since May 2023. Suzanne hosted three; Cindy, two. Cindy has another scheduled for late January. As with others in their situation, neither lists their space as an assisted-dying destination because they can host only someone who has met strict eligibility criteria, including having less than six months to live. Only a doctor in Vermont can make that determination, and a second consulting doctor has to confirm it. 'The doctors are the ones who are the sentries at the gate,' Suzanne said. 'If you don't have a doctor or meet the eligibility requirements, you can't voluntarily die using Act 39 in Vermont.' Suzanne says she feels this painting symbolizes the mission and purpose of her retreat space. Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist/For The Washington Post As with many states, Vermont has a doctor shortage that can make it hard even for in-state residents to obtain care. Finding a Vermont physician from out of state is even more challenging, as a family that used Suzanne's center last summer discovered. For a month in early summer 2024, the younger daughter, who lives in a western state and asked that her family name not be used for privacy reasons, called at least a dozen palliative care clinics in Vermont and Oregon for her father, 78, who was dying of cancer. The earliest appointment was in September, in Vermont. She wasn't sure her father would live that long, and he'd made it clear he did not want to die in a hospital, surrounded by strangers. Advertisement When she learned that a palliative clinic in Vermont had an opening in August, the family flew there, and the father was approved. The doctor and clinic program director provided Suzanne's contact information and also suggested the family call hotels and Airbnbs and be up front about booking a room. The daughter called Suzanne first. 'I'm so grateful I didn't have to make any of those phone calls saying, 'I need to make a reservation for someone to die here,'' she said. Two weeks later, the family returned to Vermont for the father to die. He and his wife stayed at Suzanne's. Their adult daughters, son-in-law, and granddaughter stayed at a hotel five minutes away. 'Suzanne was very accommodating,' the man's wife said — she gave the family free run of her house adjacent to the center, installed a full-size bed in front of the picture window so the couple could enjoy the view while they rested together, and welcomed the rescue dog the older daughter had brought for emotional support. 'I was able to spend the last night with him,' the man's wife recalled. 'The view was amazing — there's butterflies all over, there's hummingbirds, there's a gazebo on the property. You can see the hills from the big window. We said afterwards, 'It's exactly what he wanted — other than being in his own home.''
